Mary Ann, I think you've made a lovely flower portrait. The image is well-exposed and the flower is sharp against a lovely soft background. I notice the lighting is quite flat over all and with all the new features in ACR, I think a few more tweaks could really make this image pop. You might consider trying this:
1. Create a radial gradient over the entirety of the flower
2. Next, go to Point color and select the orange and bring up the luminance. Do the same with the blue and again with the white.
3. Pull another radial gradient over the flower with a wide feather. Go to the tone curve and grab the mid point and bring it up slightly. Then R-click on the mask and choose Duplicate and Invert Mask.
4. Lastly, on the inverted mask, either go to the tone curve and pull it down, or, alternatively, go to exposure and bring it down ever so slightly.
(Sorry I couldn't give you some visual feedback. I'm traveling and my laptop decided to self-destruct). If you were to try this technique, I'd be interested to see what it look like.   Posted: 10/03/2024 19:06:32

Michael, thank you for the suggestions. I did take the image into ACR and followed your steps. I couldn't make the first part of #3 work as it started to turn the orange color red. But here is what I did get and you are right...it makes it pop! I am sorry your laptop isn't working but this gave me the incentive to do it myself! Let me know if I captured what you had in mind. Thank you   Posted: 10/05/2024 21:14:31

Mary Ann, A beautiful shot of the Bird of Paradiaw. This is actually a difficult flower to photograph because of its size and angles. Something is bound to go out of focus, as the section in the foreground did. You could work around it, especially with a tripod by changing the focal point on a couple of images of the same flower and combine then in PS.
I really like what you did with tge background. Not only us ut out of focus, but it has pleasant diagonal lines the add tot the image. Good job.   Posted: 10/06/2024 00:25:04

Mary Ann, you've created a colorful and vivid image of the Bird of Paradise. (I'm impressed that you grow it in your backyard!) I especially like the version you created using Michael's suggestions. Darkening the background, plus adding saturation and sharpness to the flower brings out the colors even more. Beautiful job!   Posted: 10/17/2024 21:19:40

Mary Ann, what a beautiful shot. I've tried many time to capture images of birds of paradise and not produced one worth sharing. My compliments!   Posted: 10/17/2024 22:19:21

Hi Mary Ann,
The flower's shape and color stand out from the background. I'd prefer to sharpen the green edge of the flower on the right corner a bit more. Nice shot!   Posted: 10/20/2024 21:30:45

I've taken many photos of Birds of Paradise and they never seem to work. Nice job getting it right. Well done.   Posted: 10/21/2024 14:07:54